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by thefutureisequalaf



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Medieval, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Kryptonian Language, Language Barrier
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-02
Updated: 2018-12-02
Packaged: 2019-09-05 11:52:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16810060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thefutureisequalaf/pseuds/thefutureisequalaf
Summary: Rescuing a good swimmer from a modest lake was a far cry from saving traveling princesses from bandits, as Alex preferred to imagine. Even so, she felt, deep in her heart, that she had been more herself in the last two hours than in the entire past year.a.k.a. Who says time has to pass forwards while you're trapped in the Phantom Zone?





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**Author's Note:**

> I haven't decided whether I'm going to continue this story. There's potential for more, but I get ideas for scenes much more readily than ideas for plots. Anyway, I hope you enjoy :)

A distant sound, like a great wind rushing through a narrow gap, distracted Alex from her swordplay. Looking up, she saw an oblong shape, rounded and sleek like nothing she had ever seen, and lit at the rear by an eerily steady firelight, fly like an arrow through the light of the full moon. At the realization that its path was sloping downwards, and that it would strike the ground only a short distance away, Alex felt a surge of excitement. This, finally, might break her routine – day after day spent gathering and grinding herbs for Mom’s apothecary work. Sheathing the sword she’d surreptitiously borrowed from her father’s forge, Alex sprinted towards the object’s impending impact.

Upon reaching the edge of a lake, she skidded to a halt just as the flying thing smacked into the water. It skipped off the water like a stone, skipped again, and then plowed into the surface. As it bobbed and settled in the water, the moonlight glinted off of part of its upper profile as though that portion was made of glass. Alex thought she saw the silhouette of a person’s head inside it. She unbuckled her sword, dove into the cold lake-water, and swam towards the thing. A cloud of steam rose around it, obscuring Alex’s view of whoever might be inside, but dissipated as she neared it. She saw a girl inside the glass, younger-seeming than herself, frantically doing something with her hands. Alex swam the last yards to the object and put her hands on it. The girl inside twisted to look at her. For a moment, they simply stared. Then the girl turned back to whatever she’d been doing, her frustration clear on her face, and smacked her hand down on something.

The glass part of the object opened like a hatch. The girl did something else, and the object began to sink. Alex swam a few feet back and held out her arms. The girl looked at her for a moment, then stood up inside the thing and jumped into the water. Two strokes brought Alex to her. “Are you okay?”

The girl gave her a blank look.

Alex tried again. “Are you okay?”

The girl shook her head, though her expression suggested it was because she hadn’t understood.

“Um… alright, we can work around that. Here.” Alex wrapped one arm around the girl and started swimming for the lakeshore. The girl helped with strong kicks of her own, but Alex kept hold of her; she was the rescuer, after all. She swam until they reached water shallow enough to stand in, helped Kara find her footing in the mud, and waded with her to the shore.

On dry ground, Alex gave the girl a closer look. The girl’s long shirt and leggings, which had appeared white when she’d stood up out of her thing, were now soaked and stained greenish brown. Her shoes looked equally ruined. She was wet to the top of her head from jumping into the lake, but Alex recalled that her hair had been blonde before it got wet. Was she a Dane? But Danes came from the sea, not the night sky, and the embossed emblem on the breast of her shirt didn’t look Norse.

The blonde girl brushed water from her eyes and caught her breath. _“Tanahn?”_

“No idea. Do you speak English?” When the girl shook her head again, Alex realized that she’d have to start with the basics of language. “Um… okay, let’s try this.” Alex pointed a finger to her chest. “Alex.” She paused, then said slowly, “My name is Alex.” She made an exaggerated questioning expression and turned her finger to point at the girl. “What is your name?”

A look of relief and hope dawned on the girl’s features. “Kara.” She pointed to herself. “My name is Kara.” The accents were wrong, but it was clear she understood.

Alex smiled. “Kara.”

“Alex.” Kara extended an open hand towards the lake, then towards Alex, and then pressed her palm over her heart with a smile. _“Nahkluv,_ Alex.”

That seemed like a statement of gratitude. “Thank you? You’re welcome, Kara.” It occurred to her, however, that neither of them could know whether their translations were accurate.

Kara might or might not have been thinking a similar thought when she smiled and said, _“Shahrrehthia.”_

“Um… let me take you home – I mean…” Alex pantomimed eating and sleeping, then gestured to the woods in the direction of her village.

Kara’s stomach rumbled.

The two looked at each other, and then broke into giggles.

“Let’s go – wait.” Alex remembered the sword. “Actually, I left something.” She found where she’d dropped it and buckled it to her belt again.

Looking up, she found Kara’s eyes fastened on the sword with alarm. _“Vikhirn?!”_

“Sword,” Alex said. She held up her hands. “I’m not going to hurt you, Kara.” The girl shook her head and began to look distraught. “What’s wrong?”

Kara walked to the nearest tree and sat with her back against it. _“Kal…”_ She dropped her head into her hands and began to weep.

“Kara…” Alex was at a loss; how could she comfort someone she couldn’t even speak with? With her hands, that’s how. She sat next to Kara and put a gentle hand on the girl’s shoulder. Kara immediately leaned into her, so Alex slid her hand across to the girl’s other shoulder and held her.

Though she would’ve been content to comfort Kara there all night long, sitting still made Alex remember that they were both soaked with lake-water. It was getting late, too, and cold. She gave Kara’s shoulders a squeeze. “Kara, we need to go.” She shifted her weight towards her feet, hoping that the girl would get the idea. Kara seemed to; she nodded, and followed when Alex stood. Alex kept her arm around her. “Let me take you home.”

Kara gave her a weak, tear-stained smile. “Thank you, Alex.” The accents were wrong, but the meaning was right.

* * *

No candles flickered behind the windows by the time the two girls, shivering in their wet clothes, reached Alex’s village. Alex first led Kara around the back of her house, to her father’s forge, and returned the sword she’d purloined; she might have to admit to her parents that she’d snuck out, but they didn’t need to know everything. From the forge, she took a bucket, and brought it to the well. Kara watched with both amazement and dismay as Alex lowered the bucket on the winch, then cranked it up again. At the front door of Alex’s house, Kara stopped short. “Kara?” Alex said.

The girl looked at Alex, touched her hand to the wall of the house, then put her other hand over heart. She made a gesture as though evoking something from her lips.

“A word? House? No, home.” Alex touched her own hand over her heart, then laid that palm flat against her house. “Home. My home. This is my home.”

Nodding, Kara’s expression turned despondent. “My home…” She curled her fingers closed and touched her fists together in front of her, then quickly opened them and spread her hands apart.

Alex stared, brows knitting. Bloomed? No, it was something upsetting. “Burst?” She bit her lip; that didn’t fit, either. If not literally bursting, then… “Scattered apart… destroyed? Gone?” Kara couldn’t confirm Alex’s translation, but the girl’s grief was plain. Alex decided to focus on that and find the right word later. She took Kara’s hand and held it against her house’s wall. “My home.” She pressed their hands against the soggy fabric of the symbol on Kara’s shirt, then to the wall again. “Your home, Kara.” The girl bit her lip and nodded. Alex led her through the door.

She dropped Kara’s hand a few steps inside and set about lighting candles. In their flickering light, she saw Kara staring around the small interior as if she had had never seen wrought iron furnishings or a wooden ceiling before. Now wasn’t the time for show and tell, however. Alex knew that they both needed warmth, a hot drink, and food. The first two needs required starting a fire, which would likely wake her parents. Alex found that unfortunate; she was enjoying being the rescuer. Granted, rescuing a good swimmer from a modest lake was a far cry from saving traveling princesses from bandits, as she preferred to imagine, but doing these things for Kara made her feel right inside. She didn’t want to give up the lead to Mom and Dad.

A more grounded part of her mind recognized that tomorrow would be much less stressful for Kara if Alex’s parents found out about her now, rather than in the morning. Talking, sleeping on the matter, and talking again before explaining Kara to the rest of the village would be ideal.

Still, Alex didn’t have to tell them immediately.

The first thing to do was get Kara dry. Alex set the bucket of water next to the hearth, got two blankets from her room, and sat down in front of the fire. She pulled a blanket around her shoulders, held Kara’s eyes, and then stood again. She pantomimed taking off her shirt and leggings, then held out a blanket and gestured to where she’d sat. Kara nodded and peeled her sodden clothes off her skin. She stepped into the blanket and let Alex help her settle it around herself. When Alex reached for her clothes, however, Kara hung onto the them. She looked sad and worried. Alex tried to reassure her. “Wet,” she said, touching Kara’s shirt, and then put her hand on the blanket. “Dry.” She then directed Kara’s attention to the clothesline outside a rear window. Alex held out her thumbs and index fingers as though they were clothespins, then gestured to the line again. “Dry.”

Kara frowned, still looking reluctant, but she nodded and handed Alex her clothes. Alex decided to follow through on her attempt to communicate; she hung them as fast as she could, and then returned and began clearing the hearth of the evening fire’s ash.

“Alex.”

Looking over her shoulder, she found the girl watching her with concern. “Kara?”

Kara furrowed her brow and mouthed several things to herself – Alex thought she recognized _‘Your home’_ and _‘My name is Kara’_ – before she spoke again. “Your is wet.”

Alex smiled and corrected her grammar. “You are wet. I am wet.”

The face Kara made seemed to say, _“Well?”_

Several ways to attempt to express ‘I’ll change after I make a fire’ passed through Alex’s head, but all of them would delay making the fire, so she only shrugged and began arranging logs and kindling, working as quietly as she could without taking too long. When she turned to reach for the fire striker, she discovered that Kara was watching intently over her shoulder. Alex hid her surprise; surely someone who came from the sky knew how to make fire. Then again, Kara didn’t know English, so there was really no telling what she knew. Alex struck the flint across the steel a few times before a good spark landed in the tinder. She reached into the hearth, cupped her hands behind the spark, and blew ever so softly. The ember grew and spread under Alex’s care, setting more straw on fire, and then twigs as well, until it no longer needed her help.

While the fire grew, Alex poured water from the bucket into a kettle. She then went to the pantry and returned with two mugs, a plate, a wedge of cheese, and hunk of bread. She half-filled one of the mugs with water from the kettle, and offered it and the plate of food to Kara. The girl sipped at the mug, made a face, and then hurriedly concealed her distaste. Self-consciousness and a trace of guilt replaced it. Alex hid her own frown and turned to the hearth. As she hung the kettle over the fire, however, she remembered hearing that water tasted different in different parts of Britain. Since Kara didn’t even speak the language, maybe she was accustomed to very different water.

Only then did Alex undress, wrap the other blanket around herself, and settle at Kara’s side. Though the fire was hot and crackling, she started shivering – perhaps excitement and movement had kept her warm. Kara gave her a look which meant, in any language, _“I told you so”._ Alex rolled her eyes, snaked an arm out from inside her blanket, and held Kara close against her side.

 _“Nahn rrip zhigynot.”_ Alex saw Kara swallow and blink a few times. “Thank you, Alex.”

“You’re welcome, Kara.” She pressed a kiss to the girl’s damp blonde scalp. “You are welcome.”

Kara’s stomach grumbled again, louder. Alex looked around for the food she’d brought, but saw nothing but a breadcrumb in Kara’s lap. The poor girl must’ve been starving. Alex shifted her weight to stand, but Kara’s hand covered Alex’s on her shoulder. _“Sozhaoa_ _̈wuhkh.”_ Her tone was a soft plea.

Alex understood Kara’s meaning. “Okay. I won’t leave you, Kara.”

“Thank you.” She leaned fully into Alex, head resting against head, as silent tears rolled down her cheeks.

No, Alex thought, the girl wasn’t a princess, and she wasn’t a knight – yet she felt, deep in her heart, that she had been more herself in the last two hours than in the entire past year. If only she could rescue someone every day. Perhaps now, if Kara practiced with her, she could gain enough skill with swords to make a living. No amount of practice, however, could earn her a place as a knight of Camelot. Only nobles’ sons became knights.

Then again, if a girl could fall from the sky, then anything was possible.

**Author's Note:**

> Kryptonian language comes from the fan project here: [kryptonian.info](http://kryptonian.info/).
> 
> If you enjoyed, leave a comment! I love hearing what you think :)


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